I live in a small to mid sized town in NE Wisconsin. While it's far from rural, it seems that it's not big enough to support a Whole Foods or equivalent store. I'm able to get most of what I want through grocery stores and local butchers, but I do have some difficulty finding some of the proteins that are outside the American mainstream of beef-pork-chicken-turkey. When it comes to finding fresh seafood (beyond the most popular items like salmon), veal, lamb, duck, etc I tend to run into problems.

A few places in my area carry a good variety of frozen meats and seafood. I'm leery about this. Ideally I'd like to get most of these items fresh, but it isn't always an option. What I'd like to know is: which proteins (if any) are decent from frozen? Are there any that you would avoid at all cost?

I'd really like to expand my horizons a bit, but I'm reluctant to spend much on ingredients that I haven't worked with before that may be of questionable quality. (which I lack the expertise to identify as such)

Almost all freeze pretty well, but make sure your have a quality chest freezer. A fridge freezer is not cold enough to create small ice crystals, which results in watery products when de-frosted.

Also, always defrost in the refrigerator, not at room temperature, as this too reduces bursting and water from escaping the cells...and it's food safe too.